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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Jim Kershner’s this day in history

From our archives, 100 years ago

The president of the Spokane School Board told the city’s grade school teachers that the board could not give them the raise they requested, although he wished he could.

The problem was, the district simply didn’t have the money.

“I believe every member of the board feels we should raise salaries for grade teachers, but we cannot solve the financial side of the problem,” he said. “To comply with the request made Friday night by the teachers would mean an enormous increase in the payrolls.”

Yet he did say that the board had recently increased the salaries of supervisors and high school teachers. They did that for fear that the district was “about to lose many of them.”

The grade school teachers said that’s exactly what will happen in their ranks if the board won’t raise their salaries. Miss Sabra Connor, the grade school teacher who presented the petition to the board, said that grade school teachers are heading to Seattle and Portland, where the pay is better.

Spokane’s minimum scale was $600 a year, with most getting the maximum of $1,000 a year. However, Seattle and Portland both paid more than $1,100 a year.

Also on this date

(From the Associated Press)

1864: Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman to receive an American medical degree, from the New England Female Medical College in Boston.